Fourth generation (4G) cellular networks employing newer radio access technology (RAT) systems that implement the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LIE) and LTE Advanced standards are rapidly being developed and deployed within the United States and abroad. However, the lion's share of modern, deployed cellular networks are not 4G. For instance, the majority of deployed cellular networks in the Americas are associated with various combinations of third generation (3G) legacy networks and second generation (2G) legacy networks, which respectively employ a number of different RATs.
In addition to LTE network deployments at a particular geographic location, existing legacy cellular networks may also be deployed within the same overlapping coverage area or geographic region. Older legacy networks, which have not been completely outmoded, may be associated with any number of 3G or 2G legacy RATs, such as those associated with 3G Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) systems, 3G Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000/1x Evolution-Data Only (EV-DO) systems, as well as, 2G Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)/Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE) systems.
Further, modern wireless communication devices are being manufactured as multi-mode devices that are capable of communicating within these heterogeneous network topologies using multiple RATs, as needed. The term “multi-mode” generally refers to a device's ability to communicate using more than one 4G, 3G, or 2G RAT. By way of example, many multi-mode devices are configured to include multiple modems and/or transceivers that enable the devices to communicate using 4G LTE networks, as well as to communicate using various 3G and/or 2G legacy networks.
When a multi-mode communication device attempts to search for an available network at its present geographic location, the device may scan various frequency spectra resources that are associated with different compliant RATs for the device, i.e., by looping though its different communication modes. For example, an LTE-enabled device also having 3G and 2G communications capability can scan through several distinct frequency bands associated with each RAT type during a network search procedure. These multi-RAT network scans can be repeated until a network is ultimately acquired.
Unfortunately, device resources are often wasted during network scans due to many network considerations that modern multi-mode communication devices do not evaluate while performing network scans and acquisition. Accordingly, there remains a need for generating a network scan schedule for a multi-mode communication device that can account for various network coverage considerations to reduce unnecessary network scans during network searches.